Ernst Strohschneider
| Ernst Strohschneider | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 September 1886 Aussig an der Elbe, Austria-Hungary |
| Died |
21 March 1918 (aged 31) Motta di Livenza, Italy |
| Allegiance | Austro-Hungarian Empire |
| Service/branch | Aviation |
| Years of service | 1913–1918 |
| Rank | Oberleutnant |
| Unit | 24th Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Regiment, Fliegerkompanie 23, Fliegerkompanie 28, Flugegeschwader I, Fliegerkompanie 42J, |
| Commands held | Fliegerkompanie 42J (temporarily), Fliegerkompanie 61J, Fliegerkompanie 62J (de facto) |
| Awards | Knight's Cross of the Order of Leopold with War Decoration and Swords; Order of the Iron Crown, Third Class, with War Decoration and Swords; Silver Military Merit Medal with Swords; Military Merit Medal Third Class |
Oberleutnant Ernst Strohschneider was an Austro-Hungarian flying ace during World War I. He was credited with 15 confirmed aerial victories during his rise to the simultaneous command of two fighter squadrons. He died in a flying accident on 21 March 1918.
Ernst Strohschneider was born on 6 September 1886 in Aussig an der Elbe (present day Ústí nad Labem), Czech Republic. He was of Sudeten German parentage, and his family was well-to-do. When old enough, he joined the infantry and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the reserves in January 1913. He was serving with the 28th Infantry Regiment on the Serbian front when World War I began.
Strohschneider was wounded by a bullet in the tibia early in the war, on 28 August 1914. After hospitalization, he was posted to a Guards unit, the 42nd Infantry Regiment on the Russian Front. He went into bitter winter battle at the Chryszcata Heights in the Carpathian Mountains and suffered a knee wound on 9 February 1915. He returned from hospital after this injury to command a machine gun section. On 19 September 1915, he was wounded for the third time, and captured by the Russians. He escaped to friendly lines. After convalescense, he was then invalided from the army as unfit for further service.
He joined the Luftfahrtruppen and was trained as an aerial observer at the Officer's Flight School at Wiener-Neustadt by March 1916. He was posted to Heinrich Kostrba's Flik 23 in the South Tyrol, where his first win went unconfirmed. More notable were his long and hazardous reconnaissance flights deep into enemy territory and his bombing missions flown through heavy antiaircraft fire.
Once transferred to Flik 28 along the Isonzo, he soon trained as a pilot, returning to Wiener-Nieustadt. While attending school there, he taught student observers while also undergoing flight training. He qualified as a pilot on 30 December 1916, and received Austrian Pilot Certificate No. 596 on 30 January 1917. The new pilot was posted to Flugegeschwader I on the Isonzo line. Here he and Julius Arigi flew as fighter escort to the unit's bombers and Strohschneider scored his first two victories despite a certain lack of finesse at the controls, as on 17 April 1917, he wrecked Hansa-Brandenburg D.I serial number 28.08. However, this assignment saw him awarded the Silver Military Merit Medal with Swords, as well as the Military Merit Medal Third Class.
...
Wikipedia